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Mission:
Mexican Jaguar
Sonora,
Mexico
January 18, 2001
On a clear winter day in the semi-arid Sonora desert and mountain
country south of Agua Prieta, Wings of Change flew on behalf
of the endangered Mexican Jaguar. In partnership with Defenders
of Wildlife and Alpenglow
Films, we flew south down the Bavispe River Valley to
the breeding grounds of the Jaguar.
Here rugged
mountains surround narrow river valleys marked by ribbons
of green where the water flows. A single dusty highway-rocky,
washed out by flash floods, the provence of horses, old trucks
and older buses- follows the river down the valley.
The mission
is to film 120 miles of Jaguar habitat from the breeding grounds
to the Mexico-U.S. border. With the door removed from the
aircraft for better videography but creating a wind chill
factor below freezing, the habitat is documented for the television
series "Endangered Species" featured on the Outdoor
Life Network.
Once
the Mexican Jaguar ranged into the southwestern United States.
Hunted by ranchers and discouraged by increased human activity
in the U.S., the Jaguar now faces extinction in Mexico. And,
unfortunately for it's return to the southwestern United States,
the floodlighting of the U.S.-Mexican border by the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service discourages the movements of these
nocturnal animals.
In 1996,
however, a Jaguar was sited in southeastern Arizona by rancher
Warner Glenn while hunting with his dogs. The excitement of
that encounter is captured visually and verbally in his book
"Eyes
of Fire". And there is an unconfirmed report of a
live birth of a Jaguar in southern Arizona!
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